• The
NBA All-Star Game was held at the
MCI Center in Washington, D.C.. The East won 111–110, with Philadelphia's
Allen Iverson being named the game's Most Valuable Player. The game is noted for the Eastern Conference's 21-point comeback in the fourth quarter. • The
Grizzlies play their final season in
Vancouver,
British Columbia before
relocating to
Memphis, Tennessee for the following season leaving the
Toronto Raptors as the only
Canadian team left in the NBA. •
Rick Pitino resigned as head coach and president of the
Boston Celtics, ending a three-plus-year tenure filled with turmoil, disappointment and three consecutive below .500, non-playoff seasons. • The
Dallas Mavericks played their final season at
Reunion Arena. They also made the playoffs for the first time since the
1989–90 season. They also made it past the first round for the first time since the
1987–88 season. • The
Los Angeles Lakers win their second straight title by going 15–1 in the playoffs, then the best playoff winning percentage in NBA history (later surpassed by the 2017 Golden State Warriors). • The
Toronto Raptors advanced to the second round of the NBA playoffs for the first time in franchise history, defeating the New York Knicks three games to two. The Raptors would eventually lose in the second round to the Philadelphia 76ers four games to three. • Prior to the season,
Miami Heat center
Alonzo Mourning announced that he suffered a
kidney disorder and missed the first five months of the season. Mourning would receive a kidney transplant two years later. • This was the last time a team with the best regular season record did not win 60 or more games in a full 82-game season until
2023. The
San Antonio Spurs finished with the league's best record at 58–24. Though the
2011–12 Chicago Bulls and the
2011–12 San Antonio Spurs each won 50 games and the top conference seeds, they did so during a 66-game
lockout-shortened regular season. • Effective of this season, the league now permitted players to wear knee-length shorts by default, although players like
John Stockton opted to continue wearing short shorts during the season. This would be the case for other players in the future as players like
Chris Douglas-Roberts in the
2014–15 season and
LeBron James for some of the
2015–16 season would opt to wear short shorts. • Three teams in the Western Conference who missed the playoffs won 40 or more games. The ninth-placed
Houston Rockets finished the season with a 45–37 record, the tenth-placed
Seattle SuperSonics finished with a 44–38 record, and the eleventh-placed
Denver Nuggets ended the season with a 40–42 record. ==2000–01 NBA changes==